I DON'T believe in fairies; -- I've something else to do, Believing that behind the clouds The sky is always blue, That every day at half-past one It's nearly half-past two. I don't believe in fairies, Because my Uncle James Transcendentalised about them, And told me of their games, While he never saw the flying birds, And didn't know their names. I don't believe in fairies; I think that lazy men Who think the sunshine commonplace Invented them, and then Forgot that it is wonderful That five and five make ten. I saw the lambs at Whitsuntide, And a bullfinch in a tree, I saw a mushroom in the mist And dolphins in the sea, -- I don't believe in fairies, But these are faith for me. Clear are the stars and the thrushes' eggs For tidy hearts to find, And I think that fays and lepracauns Are slatterns of the mind, And if I ever meet one I shall know that I am blind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINES WRITTEN ON HEARING THE NEWS OF THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY RUNNING TO PARADISE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS EHEU, FUGACES! by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS AT THE FUNERAL OF A MINOR POET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |